Ever since the Atkins Diet hit the headlines a decade ago, carbs have been criminalised, communicated to weight-worried women as the ‘edible enemy'. They make us fat; they cause diabetes; they stimulate our appetites. And don't even think about eating them after 6pm as you will pile on the pounds. I even read an article recently that compared carbs to cocaine in terms of addictiveness. Personally, I think it's a carb crusade gone mad.
OK, so we are all nutrition-savvy enough to know that overdosing on types of this particular food group (think white bread, doughnuts and fries) is not good for our health or our waistlines - although neither is overdosing on red meat, processed foods or fat. But cutting out or seriously restricting carbs - as proposed by the Atkins, then the South Beach, and now the Dukan - can, in the long term, be harder on our health and worse on our waistlines. Yes, really!
"Over the past few years in particular, carbohydrate foods have been really maligned, especially with the advent of so many low-carb diets," says nutritionist Sarah Queen. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation regarding carbs - one of them being that they need to be cut out of your diet to lose weight. This is simply not true," she explains.
But, before you call me up and scream down the phone, ‘I lost two stone before my wedding on the Atkins diet,' hear me out. We've all got a friend who shed a stone in super-quick time on the Atkins, but has she kept it off long-term? Have you? Filling up on filet steak, bingeing on bacon, and snacking on sausages without letting the ‘c' word pass your lips may get you into that LBD for Christmas, but will it get you into that swimsuit for summer? And will you have enough energy to actually enjoy yourself? According to numerous studies and even more nutritionists the answer is no.
Any nutritionist worth their dietary salt will tell you that low-carb or no-carb diets simply aren't sustainable and fail in the long run because dieters begin to crave carbs. In a University of Toronto study of 89 women, half restricted the amount of carbs they ate, while the other half did not. After three days, when both groups were served breakfast and told to eat all they wanted, the low-carb dieters stuffed themselves with calorie-laden carbs (like white bread and croissants), while the non-carb dieters stuck to their diets. And so begins the binge - a cycle of dietary ups and downs, which do not a healthy or successful diet make. The fact is, our bodies are hard-wired to crave carbs (they're energy and we need energy to function), so abstaining from them means we end up indulging in the more unhealthy carb-loaded foods, which leads to weight gain.
A new message
There's a rather refreshing dietary message that's finally getting the headlines it deserves, brought about by the diet plan, The Carb Lovers Diet. Written by health editor Ellen Kunes and dietitian Frances Largeman-Roth, this ‘keep-the-kilos-off-without-carb-denial' plan centres on ‘resistant-starch' carbs, the food group (think bananas, brown rice, beans and oats) that's currently lapping up the weightloss limelight.
Passionately opposed to the low-carb message, the authors believe that our brains and bodies need starchy foods and that denying ourselves inevitably leads to a carb-loaded feeding frenzy.
While I'm not endorsing any diet plan, including this one, it does deliver a much-needed message: that carbs are not bad but a food group we need both physically and emotionally.
"Carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy (calories) and should provide at least 50 per cent of our daily calorie intake," explains Sarah. "And for those who exercise, 60 per cent of energy should come from carbs." In fact, says Sarah, it's the carb-containing foods that not only help to maintain our energy levels throughout the day, but also help prevent hunger pangs, keeping us fuller for longer, and therefore helping with both weight maintenance and weightloss.
What's more, they also keep us upbeat. Carb-denial has been linked to stress, irritation and even depression, which can in turn lead to the over-consumption of fatty foods. Put simply, stress produces high levels of hormones, like cortisol, which boost your appetite and lead to bingeing, explains Elissa Epel, obesity expert and associated professor at the University of California.
On the other side of the carbohydrate coin, eating this food group in the right way can maximise your good mood. "Eating carbohydrates helps to naturally increase the body's serotonin levels, which are essential for both mood and sleep pattern regulation," says Sarah.
"It is in fact the high-protein, fatty foods that deplete the mood-regulating, stress-reducing chemicals to the brain," says Grant Brinkworth, lead researcher on an Australian study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study followed 106 dieters for a year; half ate a carb-rich diet, while the other half followed a low-carb diet. After a year, the carb eaters felt happier, calmer and more focused than the carb-deprived group, who reported feeling stressed out.
So carb, so good. But before you celebrate with a big bowl of chunky chips, understand that it's not about the consumption of carbs per se, but about the type of carbs consumed. And this is where the ‘carb' message has failed. The problem is that when most people think ‘carbs', they think cake, bread, pasta... tarring all carbs with the same bad belly-busting brush. The low-carb or no-carb message has become such a modern diet philosophy that potatoes and pasta have become ‘bad foods', when in fact they are not - they're simply misunderstood.
A complex matter
As Sarah explains, calories are fattening, not carbs. "It is what is eaten with carbohydrates that makes them more calorific, such as mayonnaise and butter on a jacket potato or a creamy sauce with pasta." In fact, Sarah explains, weight for weight, carbs contain the fewest calories of any food group. "It's because carbs often look bulky and fill us up that psychologically we think they are calorie-dense and should be limited," she says.
Of course, if you choose fat-laden or sugar-laden carbs (such as cake and chips), then they will be calorific, but if you choose the right carbs (such as brown rice, beans) they will fill you up without straining the scale.
Because not all carbs are created equal, and the good ones - known as complex carbs and resistant-starch carbs - are essential to our health. Digested more slowly in your stomach, these clever carbs help you feel fuller for longer (so you're less likely to indulge) as well as pack a nutritional punch - think fibre, vitamin E, magnesium and zinc, all the goodness essential for a woman's health. They include wholegrain products, pulses and beans, and fruit and vegetables. Resistant-starch carbs like potatoes, bananas and oats are both effective appetite suppressants as they resist digestion, and metabolism boosters. Research at the University of Surrey found that consuming resistant starch in one meal caused participants to consume 10 per cent fewer calories (about 150-200 calories for the average woman) the next day because they felt less hungry.
Of course, this doesn't give you free reign to ‘eat your body weight in carbs' - but, instead, to choose ‘good carbs' over ‘bad carbs' and to consume everything in moderation. Not only will you feel fuller for longer (and therefore lose weight in the process) but you'll feel happier, less stressed, and will be providing your body with a good supply of energy, lots of the vitamins and minerals it needs, and overall health. Now, that's not criminal, that's simply smart. A
And another carb myth...
"You shouldn't eat carbs after 6pm"
"This is a fallacy," says Sarah. "It's arisen because eating at night is the time when people tend to pick and snack on high-fat, sugar-laden foods like crisps, chocolate and biscuits, providing the body with excess calories. But there's no food, including carbs, that eaten at night leads to weight gain as long as you don't overeat on your daily calorie requirements."
Know your good carbs from your bad
The bad
Simple carbs are the easiest for your body to break down, providing you with a quick burst of energy just after you eat them, but then often leaving you feeling hungry more quickly. This type of carbohydrate is mainly found in refined foods such as white flour, sugar, white rice, cakes, doughnuts, pastries, candy, and white bread and pasta. They contain little nutritional benefit and are often combined with white sugar or fat, making them far worse for your waistline. They also lack B vitamins and other important nutrients.
The good
Complex carbs are the goodies. Made up of long strings of sugar molecules, and including both starches and fibres, they are digested more slowly in your stomach, meaning you feel fuller for longer and are less likely to overindulge in them or other fatty foods. They also contain nutritional benefits, from fibre and vitamin E, to magnesium and zinc, helping to keep the body healthy. The starchy variety includes potatoes, legumes and beans, cereals, oats and wholegrains, while the non-starchy variety includes fruits and vegetables.
The even better
Carbs containing resistant starch increase the activity of fat-burning enzymes and decrease the activity of fat-storage enzymes, meaning stomach-fat cells are less likely to pick up and store calories as fat, and you feel less hungry because they act as an appetite suppressant. Bananas are the richest source of resistant starch, while beans - also a great source of fibre - come in second. Potatoes similarly help to curb the appetite, as do brown rice and barley, which are both rich in resistant starch and also aid digestion.